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Tennessee PoliticsMon, 07 Apr 2014 14:51:50 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=3.6Tennessee Republicans take note of Metro Council members’ tax stanceshttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2012/tennessee-republicans-take-note-of-metro-council-members-tax-stances/
http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2012/tennessee-republicans-take-note-of-metro-council-members-tax-stances/#commentsWed, 16 May 2012 19:15:31 +0000Michael Casshttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/?p=17101It wasn’t lost on the Tennessee Republican Party that three Metro councilmen running as Democrats for state offices either rejected or passed on voting for Mayor Karl Dean’s tax increase Tuesday.

Councilmen Bo Mitchell and Jason Potts voted against the 53-cent property tax hike on the first vote – when the budget basically had to pass – and Darren Jernigan abstained. They are running as Democrats this year in House districts 50, 53 and 60, respectively.

Adam Nickas, the state Republicans’ executive director, said the councilmen-candidates’ “distancing” of themselves from Dean’s proposal “stuck out like a sore thumb.”

“It just blatantly looks like they’re making this stance for political expediency, not necessarily because they disagree with the mayor,” Nickas said.

“Maybe it says something larger about the whole popularity of this tax increase to begin with. If they’re having to avoid voting for the tax increase, maybe that indicates there’s not much support. And they’re running in districts that are not heavily Republican by any means. The political dynamics of this, and how they’re positioning themselves, is really interesting.”

Metro government itself is nonpartisan, a trait that Tennessean Chairman Emeritus John Seigenthaler described as a strength in a speech last week about the government’s upcoming 50th anniversary.

]]>http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2012/tennessee-republicans-take-note-of-metro-council-members-tax-stances/feed/0New councilman continues family traditionhttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2011/new-councilman-continues-family-tradition/
http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2011/new-councilman-continues-family-tradition/#commentsTue, 27 Sep 2011 18:18:33 +0000Michael Casshttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/?p=14907When Jason Potts was elected to represent District 30 on the Metro Council, he was one of just two newcomers to defeat an incumbent on this year’s ballot. But Potts’ victory was nothing new for the extended family of Alexanders and their in-laws, which has now produced five council members and has been represented on Nashville’s legislative body continuously for 28 years.

The line of public servants started with the late Tom Alexander, who served District 31 from 1983 to 1999 in the pre-term limits era. Alexander’s brother-in-law, Jerry Graves, joined him on the council for the 1995-99 term, when Graves represented District 16. (His wife, Sandra Alexander Graves, is an aide to Davidson County Clerk John Arriola.)

The tradition continued in 1999, when Alexander’s and Graves’ nephew, Jason Alexander, was elected from District 28 and served two terms. His father, Jimmy Alexander, was a longtime Metro employee and is now the mayor of Nolensville.

Carl Burch, Tom Alexander’s son-in-law, joined Jason Alexander on the council in 2003 from District 13, which he represented until term limits forced him out of the seat this year.

“We’re all interested in helping the city get better,” he said of his extended family.

Potts had a chance to be elected alongside his father-in-law on Aug. 4. Graves tried to re-join the council from District 17 this year but lost by a more than three-to-one margin to incumbent Councilwoman Sandra Moore, whose redevelop-the-fairgrounds stance apparently wasn’t as unpopular in the district as Graves was counting on.